Ok, not very flattering, but frankly, after that humbling and arduous race, I don't feel a need to save-face. Thought you'd like to see my look after already going for about 2 hrs. This photo is of me running through the transition after just getting off the bike.The Olympic tri is a 1500m (almost a mile) swim, 40k (or 25m) bike, then finishing with a 10k (or 6.2m) run. Don't have much else to say except, "I finished... and I invite you to join me at the next race I'll enter in May '08. This time, I'll train a littler harder and actually be competitive. We'll see... aiming for 2:45, instead of my pitiful 3:17. But hey, I finished.
The race did make me think a lot about these passages:
1 Corinthians 9:24-27: Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." (NIV)
Hebrews 12:1-4: Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!" (The Message)
2 Timothy 4:7-8: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now, a crown is being held for me—a crown for being right with God. The Lord, the judge who judges rightly, will give the crown to me on that day -not only to me but to all those who have waited with love for him to come again."
